


it's a long way forward, so trust in me

by thatcrazyfantasy



Category: Now You See Me (Movies)
Genre: Daniel has minor panic attacks, Friendship, Gen, Hurt Jack, Hurt Lula, Hurt/Comfort, Team as Family, mention of Alma Dray/Dylan Rhodes, mention of past Henley Reeves/J. Daniel Atlas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2019-02-17 22:30:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13086738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatcrazyfantasy/pseuds/thatcrazyfantasy
Summary: “What the fuck just happened?” Lula asks, looking at all of them with wide eyes. They’re not alone, but she wants answers more than she cares about the security overhearing how terrified she is. “Did she just say we’re going todie?”“I think that’s exactly what she said,” Daniel confirms, rubbing his temples with his hands. “We’ll figure something out.”





	1. part I

**Author's Note:**

> fic title from porter robinson's and madeon's "shelter".
> 
> // sorry it's a bit disjointed, am a bit rusty!!! enjoy, part two to come soon! //

The show was supposed to go off without a hitch. Everything had been planned meticulously by the Eye, passed down through Dylan who was behind the scenes, keeping a lookout for the FBI. It was supposed to be a simple task, another exploitation. This time, it was going to be a CEO, Dr. Margaret Lillith who’d seemed to have mastered the “ultimate” home security system – it was to alert homeowners if anyone who wasn’t them stepped into the house via a face recognition system posted outside of any possible entrances into the house. Inside, more systems were enabled so that it logged any valuables, only visible to the owner through fingerprint and voice recognition. However, Dr. Lillith had neglected to mention that her company was working in conjunction with a different group, who would also have access to this information and would start conducting raids on houses, collecting their expensive jewelry and collectibles and replacing them with stunningly close replicates that wouldn’t be exposed until someone tried to sell them. 

What the Eye and the Horsemen had failed to account for was their reputation preceding them. After their first two exposés, people had started to associate their names with not just magic shows, but public humiliation. That included the CEO of the company, realizing that the product she was launching would probably attract the Horsemen, and hiring extra “security” to make up for it. These security detail, while stronger and more heavily armed than just event location security, blended in with the rest of the crowd, which is why they didn’t concern Dylan in the slightest; he only registered them as participants and wrote them off immediately, keeping his eye sharp for the FBI.

The show seems to be going fairly smoothly in the Horsemen’s favour. Dr. Lillith is perched on a stool in the very center of the stage, her eyes a bit hazy with the unmistakable cloud of Merritt’s hypnosis lingering if anyone were able to look close enough. Daniel, Lula and Jack are asking the leading questions while Merritt coaxes the answers out of Dr. Lillith’s foggy mind. They don’t get very far, just a few basic questions on the company’s background, when the sound system emits a loud screeching sound, causing the audience and the Horsemen to grab their ears. Dr. Lillith seems to have snapped out of her trance, standing up, seemingly unfazed. In this time, her security has swarmed the stage, immediately noticed by Daniel. 

“Dylan,” he mutters, bringing his wrist up to his mouth while still holding his ear with the other hand. “We’ve been set up.” 

Dylan, who’d been stationed outside, immediately pushes through the door in the back of the auditorium, and stops dead in his tracks when he sees the situation at hand. The horrible screeching has stopped, and a dead silence falls over the auditorium, people waiting to see what happens next.

“Can you get out of there?” Dylan quietly asks back, but he knows the answer is no. They hadn’t planned for this. Sure, there’d been escape plans in place, but they’d been based on Dylan spotting the problem and warning them. 

“So here we are,” Dr. Lillith says, speaking into the microphone that’d been handed to her. She scans the crowd, and Dylan quickly ducks behind the back row of chairs in an attempt to keep out of her view. He needs more time to assess the situation, but there isn’t any. Dylan swears under his breath, peeking up behind the seats. “How about we give a warm thanks to the Horsemen for their guest appearance, and little show?” She smiles, at the audience, who erupt into applause. Before anyone can react, the guards have flanked the magicians and are escorting them offstage despite their struggles to break free. Dylan instantly starts moving toward the stage when two men plant themselves in front of him.

“Going somewhere, Shrike?” one of them asks, and Dylan quickly moves to punch one of them when his arm is grabbed by someone else, and yanked hard and fast behind his back. He can’t suppress the cry of pain that escapes him, and he sees his Horsemen’s heads snap in his direction. The now three guys holding Dylan pull him back toward the lobby doors, and while he strains against them, their grips don’t let up as he’s forced out of the auditorium, watching the doors swing closed and preventing him from seeing where the Horsemen might be getting led.

Meanwhile, Dr. Lillith has taken to speaking to the audience again, who oblivious to what just happened. “Being hypnotized is a bit tiring, so we’ll be taking a quick intermission before resuming as planned. Please enjoy our refreshments and, ah, entertainment in the lobby.” She smiles at them, before waving a hand that drops a curtain that separates the audience from the Horsemen, cutting the microphones as well so that no one can hear the scuffle over all the applause. 

In the lobby, Dylan is being held firmly in place by the three men when people come bursting through the doors. Some of them immediately recognize him as the Fifth Horseman and start crowding around to take pictures and murmur about it among themselves. Dylan’s waiting for the others to emerge with their own set of guards but instead is unpleasantly surprised by Agent Natalie Austin marching through the lobby with Cowan trailing about a step behind. The men roughly push Dylan forward toward the feds, but he recovers before he falls, just to have Cowan snap a pair of handcuffs on him.

“Don’t even think about it,” Austin tells him seriously, and Dylan can’t help lifting his mouth up in a half smirk, putting aside his worry for the other Horsemen for a second.

“Think about escaping, you mean?” he quips, and Cowan opens his mouth to say something back, but Austin sends him a withering glare. Cowan steps back and Dylan chuckles to himself, even when Austin swivels to focus her glare on him.

“We’ve got you this time,” she says, before nodding to the rest of her men. “Check the venue for the rest of them.” The others nod back and scatter quickly. Dylan lets out a small breath, partially relieved that they’ll all be together and will be able to deal with the FBI together. His relief is short lived as the feds come jogging back empty handed. 

“The doctor says they’ve escaped,” one of them shares, and Austin swears loudly before motioning for the agent with Dylan to move him out toward the doors. Dylan hides the smile that wants to spread across his face. His injured arm presents a bit of a challenge, but he feels confident he can break free and meet them at the safehouse in a few hours. 

However, the other Horsemen feel less optimistic about their odds, being guarded by security in the back of a limo, made to feel like it’s a luxury to be here, when instead, their plan is falling apart. Daniel considers trying to get a message to Dylan, but after watching him get dragged out, maybe that’s not such a good idea. He looks over to Jack, whose hands are twitching to throw the cards they all know he’s gotten up his sleeve. Jack’s eyes meet his, and Daniel slightly shakes his head. While Dylan is the ultimate leader, Jack has started to look to Daniel for guidance when Dylan is not immediately available. Jack nods back, almost unnoticeably before deflating a bit. His hands continue to twitch, but at least Daniel knows he’s not going to do anything yet. Lula is nervously making sarcastic quips to the guards who don’t even bat an eye her way. Merritt, meanwhile, has leaned back and seems to be taking a survey of the small space and its occupants. 

Suddenly, the door closest to Lula opens, letting in sunlight as Dr. Lillith climbs in with two of her own security guards for added safety. “Please, don’t look so distressed,” she says, waving her hand airily, settling into the seat next to Lula and across from Merritt. “Get comfortable. We’ve got a bit to discuss.” The four Horsemen exchange small looks back and forth between each other, before looking back at Dr. Lillith. “So here, you thought you might be exposing HouSecurity, didn’t you? You seem to be getting sloppy,” she muses, looking at each of them. “I mean, if you’d done your background research, maybe you’d realize exactly who I am.” She nods over at Merritt, who’s sat straight up as the realization hits him. 

“Margaret Lillith Mabry,” he breathes out, and Jack, Lula and Daniel snap their heads around to look over at him. “You were –” 

“I am,” Dr. Lillith corrects, “Walter’s wife, yes.” She smiles sweetly at all of them, and Merritt pins this as the moment he knows they’re in trouble. 

“Excuse me, I just –” Lula speaks up, moving her hands around her head as if to show the facts bouncing around in her head. “Walter Mabry, the guy we put behind bars like, two years ago? With his grandfather?” 

“His father,” Daniel automatically corrects. “But yeah, him.” He looks back over at Dr. Lillith, who looks pleased that they’ve figured this one out on their own. 

“The one and only,” Dr. Lillith confirms, redirecting her smile over to Daniel. He tries to ignore the bad feeling in his stomach. He doesn’t want to admit it, but he’d do anything to have Dylan in his ear, telling him exactly how to get out of this situation. “It seems at least one of you knows what you’re talking about. It’s taken a long to build this company from the ground up, but luckily Walt had already the skeleton of frame and I just had to expand on it. It should pay for the lawyer fees, since you bankrupted Art as well.” 

“What do you want with us?” Jack asks her, glaring at her defiantly. Dr. Lillith turns to him, reaching out to stroke his face with what would be a caring gesture if they knew her in some capacity, or even if she wasn’t currently holding them hostage and revealing that she had a personal vendetta for them. He snaps his head back, preventing her from reaching him, and she drops her hand back down into her lap.

“So young,” she sighs, “so innocent. That’s why you’re the baby of the group, right?” Merritt doesn’t miss the way Jack’s jaw tightens, and he instantly feels a little guilty. Maybe they have been a little wary of giving him more complicated tasks in set up and during shows, but he’d never thought of chalking it up to his age. Now that he thinks about it more in depth, Merritt is pretty sure that’s exactly why they’d given him all of the simple jobs. Last job they’d done, Jack was the one who’d noticed the reverse rain in the magic shop in Macau, yet they’d stuck him with the simple Three Card Monte instead of letting him pull off the bigger trick. He can see in his peripherals Jack’s hands seemingly twitching a little more, and Merritt strongly resists the urge to send him a warning glance. “I see the way you look at the others for guidance,” Dr. Lillith continues, gesturing at Merritt and Daniel. “They don’t think you can handle anything bigger on your own?” The statement is posed as a question, but everyone knows the answer. Thankfully, Jack had never lashed out with his words due to temper, but he was apt to start trying to punch someone or retaliate in a more aggressive manner. “Sad,” Dr. Lillith shakes her head. “You have so much potential.”

“Seriously, don’t you have some well-thought-out ‘plan’ that you’re about to reveal to us?” Daniel pipes up, using his fingers as air quotes. Having Jack worked up would not benefit the team at all, and getting Dr. Lillith back on track seemed to be the best move to distract her. She turns to look at him, smiling at him yet again. 

“You’re so on top of things, Danny,” she comments, and he swallows thickly, trying not to think of Henley giving him the same compliment after they pulled off a successful show or he planned their movement from safehouse to safehouse while in hiding. “Pity you’re not the one running the show right now. That’s what you always wanted, right?” She wasn’t wrong. While Dylan worked well in getting them out of tight spots, Daniel always felt as if he’d done more for the team and their wellbeing while in safety, or in the way of preparation. While Dylan and Daniel’d come to an agreement after the Macau incident, he still couldn’t fully believe that Dylan and Dylan alone was meant to lead them. “But I suppose you’re right, time’s ticking and I do have a whole audience waiting inside for me. You see, you’ve caused quite a bit of trouble for my husband and father-in-law. And I’m not going to let you get in the way of us and our project anymore. I’m not going to let you get in the way of anyone else at all. We’re going to dispose of you one at a time, and we’re going to make it look like a string of suicides.” The four Horsemen stare at her in various levels of shock. 

“There’s no way you’re going to get away with this,” Lula states confidently. “We can take whatever you’re going to throw at us.” 

“Maybe,” Dr. Lillith hums, casting her a sad look. “But if a _real_ magician couldn’t take it on, then I’m sure you can’t either. I mean you, what, pulled a rabbit out of a hat?” 

“That was _a decade_ ago!” Lula exclaims, throwing her hands up, her voice getting slightly high-pitched at the end of the sentence. “When will anyone ever let me live that one down?” 

“Oh, excuse me,” Dr. Lillith replies, seemingly empathetic. “Maybe if I’d seen the Horsemen give you something else to work with, or even think of you as a Horseman, I’d have a better idea of what you could be doing.” Lula doesn’t seem to have a response to this one, letting a quick glare slip out in Daniel’s direction, who simply raises an eyebrow back at her. She tries to resist rolling his eyes at him, but it doesn’t matter. They both know what they think of each other, no matter how much they try to ignore it. “And don’t worry, Mer-bear,” she smiles at Merritt. He cringes at the nickname. “I haven’t forgotten about you. Chase has told me so much from way back in the old days, such a long time ago. It must be hard keeping up with the rest of the team. Jack has nearly taken your role, hasn’t he?” Merritt avoids looking at Jack, but he can feel the waves of guilt radiating off of the younger boy. It might be a little more true than not, and while Jack feels a bit guilty about it, he’s been chomping at the bit to get more difficult tasks within the shows. Merritt can’t help but wonder if Jack would completely absorb his role if it meant he got to do more than just sleight-of-hand tricks. It bothers him that he can’t answer for sure. “Maybe you should hit them with an ageism suit. I’m only kidding, _of course_ ,” she adds, chuckling lightly. “Anyways, I have more important things to attend to. So my friends here will be escorting you to your final destinations. I hope you’re all warmed up.” She gives them one last smile before climbing out of the car with her original two guards and the limo instantly starts moving. 

“What the fuck just happened?” Lula asks, looking at all of them with wide eyes. They’re not alone, but she wants answers more than she cares about the security overhearing how terrified she is. “Did she just say we’re going to _die_?” 

“I think that’s exactly what she said,” Daniel confirms, rubbing his temples with his hands. “We’ll figure something out.” He casts a look to the guards who’d been left to sit with the magicians and make sure they didn’t pull anything. It would be kind of hard to plan something with them here. He looks over at Jack, who instantly has his cards fanned out in his hands, ready to throw. Before he can even try, the guards have their guns all trained on him, fingers ready to pull their triggers.

“Nice try, kid,” one of them says, holding his free hand out. “Hand them over and we won’t shoot.” Jack hesitates before holding them out cautiously. “All of them. There’s got to be a full deck, right?” Jack nearly growls at the man while handing over his entire deck of cards. “Attaboy, Jack.” The guard turns to chuckle to his buddies, probably over the condescending joke he’d made, and in doing so, misses Jack stepping closer, prepared to swing.

“Not worth it,” Merritt mutters quietly, pulling Jack back down onto the seat next to him forcefully. “Play along for now.” 

“I can handle myself,” Jack snaps, yanking his arm from Merritt, but sitting back in his seat nonetheless. 

“Then contain yourself,” Daniel snaps, “would it kill you to start behaving like an adult? Watch your temper.” Jack glowers from his seat, not liking Daniel’s side comment about his age, but keeps his mouth closed nonetheless. The rest of the ride passes with the Horsemen completely oblivious as to where they’re going until the car stops and one of the guards grabs Lula roughly. 

“Hey!” she protests, while the other three Horsemen are tensed, ready to fight the guards back roughly but hesitant to risk anything. 

“Ready to do a show?” The guard asks with a large. This time, Daniel, Jack and Merritt spring to their feet but are instantly restrained by other guards, despite their straining. “Let’s see if you can recreate Henley’s old tricks. If not, I suppose it wouldn’t be too hard to pass it off as you just desperately trying to fill her shoes.” The guard pushes her out and then motions for the rest of them to follow. “If you try to pull anything at all, you’ll be the next to go,” he threatens them before letting them climb out. The flashy limo has attracted the attention of many of the passerbys, who have started to gather once noticing that it is in fact, the Horsemen. 

“Please welcome the Horsemen!” one of the other guards announces, stepping forward. “Here to do an escape trick for the very first time, welcome Lula May!” Lula sends a panicked look to the other three, who have no idea to handle this. They’d been working on finessing everyone’s skills so they could learn to be a more well-rounded group, but they hadn’t quite focused on Lula’s lockpicking skills well enough that any of them felt confident enough that she could manage to get out on her own. Before anyone can figure anything out, Lula is quickly pushed to the diving board set up in the middle of the lake while the Horsemen are led behind her slightly. No one questions the guards, since it would make sense to the audience that they would travel with security, especially in public shows where anyone could be watching. Lula’s guard handcuffs her wrists behind her back and cuffs her ankles together, before attaching them to a small weight.

“There’s no way,” Merritt breathes under his breath to the other two. “We’ve got to do _something_.” 

“Are you willing to risk your life?” Daniel shoots back, not daring to look at Merritt for fear one of the guards catches them talking. The audience starts counting down from ten to when Lula will be dropped into the lake, where, two or three minutes later, she will run out of oxygen, probably without resurfacing. 

“Are _you_?” Merritt asks back, and Daniel opens and closes his mouth. He knows what the answer should be, it should be yes. They should be looking out for each other, no matter what. They were a team, they won together, and they were supposed to lose together. That was much easier to commit to in theory than in practice, when his life was what could very possibly be on the line. These guards had guns, for crying out loud. He was going to remind Merritt of this information but he didn’t have much time to react as Jack instantly whirls around and punches the guard holding him. Merritt follows suit, slamming his elbow into his guard.

Before Daniel can even blink, Jack is already sprinting to the diving board, where Lula is no longer visible. Daniel can spot the ripples in the lake of where Lula must’ve been dropped. A weight settles in his stomach, and he instantly moves into action, twisting away from the guard and prepping himself to outwit him.

Merritt is trailing behind Jack when Jack reaches the floating docks and is immediately blocked by more guards. He casts a quick look over to Merritt, but Merritt has gotten tangled back up into the fight with Daniel and the other guards, and so Jack is on his own. He’s fully aware of the lack of time he has to save their fellow Horseman as he hesitates, which means he really should get moving if he’s going to save Lula. He doesn’t spare a thought to the bystanders murmuring amongst each other, some of them taking pictures and videos of him cocking his arm back, slamming his fist into the gut of one of the guards. He’d learned a bit of hand to hand combat when he was younger, and manages to hold his own for a good bit, but he just needs to _move past them_. 

“Jack!” Daniel yells urgently from where he’s grappling with some of the guards, “Jack, wait for us to back you up!” Jack grits his teeth and pretends he doesn’t hear as he continues to push the guards back towards the lake, oblivious to the one reaching out to around his back and pulling out a knife. The metal glitters in the sunlight, eliciting a gasp from the audience, but Jack doesn’t notice until the blade is plunged into his side. He falters, grabbing at his side and realization strikes his face when his hand jolts the handle. He bites back a cry of pain, and tries to shake through it, but the guards have already taken this lapse in movement to their advantage and he gets a fist to the face, causing him to stumble back and trip over his own two feet, landing him on his back onto the dock. 

“Jack!” Merritt calls, as he and Daniel come rushing over to step in and battle the guards so Jack can recuperate. Jack struggles to sit up. _When did it get so hard to breathe? Breathing. Drowning. Lula_. A newfound surge of energy rushes through Jack, and he winces as he reaches to his side. He wraps both hands around the handle, and after allowing himself a moment to brace himself, pulls the knife out of his side. He can’t help the groan from coming out of his mouth, wincing when he gently feels the wound and his fingers come away, sticky with blood. He manages to pull himself up to his feet, somewhat stumbling to the edge of the dock, by the diving board, clutching the knife in his hand.

“Shit, wait! Jack, don’t!” Daniel manages to say while dodging a punch. Jack chooses not to listen to him, instead taking a deep breath before diving into the water. “Fuck!” Daniel mutters to himself, managing to shove the guy into the diving board roughly, before punching him in the gut. 

Meanwhile, underwater, Jack spots Lula, not moving, and swims down faster. He has no idea how long it’s been, and normally, he could probably keep himself down here for about three minutes without coming up for air, but just swimming down with his injury was very tiring, and painful. He reaches her, and quickly uses the knife to cut the rope at her ankles, which she probably hadn’t been able to untie with her ankles behind her back. The cuffs present more of a problem because he doesn’t have the exact key, but he rummages around in his pocket before procuring his lock pick and getting to work. 

Up above, Merritt and Daniel have finally gained the upper hand, and have disarmed the guards to make it a fairer fight. The guns lay on the deck, but Merritt scrambles for them both, grabbing one and kicking the other one toward Daniel who traps it under his foot. With both of the guards’ attention focused on Merritt, it’s almost too easy for Daniel to smash the gun into the back of their heads, causing them to drop. The audience cheers, but Daniel and Merritt have more important things to think about. 

“I’m going to go in,” Daniel says, so quickly his words almost start blending together, his hands fumbling with his buttons on his jacket. “Jack, he’s, he looks bad, the _knife_ — and Lula?”

“You need to calm down first,” Merritt replies, putting a firm hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “It won’t help to have three of us out for injuries. I can’t do a show by myself.” Daniel, despite himself, chokes out a laugh and nods. He takes a moment to collect himself, looking back at Merritt as if waiting for his go ahead. Any other time, Merritt would’ve mocked him relentlessly, but this is different. “Go to them, Danny,” he encourages, “I’ll call an ambulance.” Daniel nods, stripping off his coat and diving into the waters. Once his eyes have adjusted, he can easily make out Jack and Lula moving toward him as Jack tries to carry her to the surface. Daniel can tell Jack is struggling, and reaches toward the boy to take Lula from him. Jack is reluctant to pass Lula over, after all, he’s _not a child_ and perfectly capable of swimming Lula up to the surface. While Jack has thought this, Daniel has taken Lula and motions toward the surface before swimming toward the surface with speed and intensity. Jack moves to follow them, but the piercing pain in his side announces itself again, his adrenaline wearing off. He involuntarily gasps, water quickly flooding into his mouth. He tries to swim upwards, but the pain hits him again. He grabs his side, and his hand still comes back with fresh blood. He knows this can’t be good, and he accidentally hisses with pain again, and more water comes flooding back into his throat and lungs. He coughs, but as he’s underwater, he just ingests more water. His body tries to get more air by inhaling, which doesn’t work either. He feels fuzziness creep into his vision and casts his eyes upwards, feeling a small bit of relief when he can’t see Daniel and Lula. 

_They’re safe_ , Jack thinks, and lets his eyes slip closed.


	2. part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Atlas?” Dylan’s voice comes through, and Daniel breathes a shaky sigh of relief. Dylan’s safe. “Atlas, where the hell are you? What’s going on?” 
> 
> “Everything went wrong,” is all Daniel can manage to say. “There’s an ambulance coming, we’re,” he pauses, when he realizes that he doesn’t know where they are. 
> 
> “Is everyone okay?” Dylan asks urgently. Daniel can hear Dylan moving around, probably getting ready to come meet them. 
> 
> “Merritt’s doing CPR on Lula, Jack’s – he’s –” Daniel does a full turn around. _Where is Jack?_ He was right behind Daniel and Lula, he’d swam up behind them – the realization hits him like a ton of bricks. Daniel never actually Jack resurface, he’d just assumed he was okay. He drops Merritt’s phone without thinking about it, his mind blocking out Dylan’s shouts coming from the other end, and automatically moves to the edge of the dock where he’d come up with Lula. “I have to get Jack,” he says, and maybe Merritt heard him and maybe he didn’t, but Daniel’s already diving into the lake again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> part II!! sorry it's a little later than I planned, but work kept me busy. I'm toying with the idea of a part III but for now this story is complete!

Daniel breaks surface, gasping for air, and swims him and Lula over to the dock. Merritt rushes over to help heave Lula up onto the dock, and reaches a hand to Daniel. Daniel shakes him off and gestures towards Lula’s unmoving form. _Of course_. Merritt starts doing chest compressions, hoping to get her breathing again, get the water out of her lungs. In the meantime, Daniel climbs up onto the dock, taking a few moments to catch his breath. He checks his wrist to check in with Dylan, only to find the device unusable due to the amount of water it was exposed to. Merritt is still working with Lula, and the faint sound of sirens pierces the air. 

“My phone,” Merritt grunts in between compressions. It takes Daniel a hot sec to realize Merritt is talking to him. For once, Daniel is relieved that Merritt is able to know what Daniel’s thinking about. He moves over to Merritt, reaching into his coat pocket and extracting his phone. Without thinking, he punches in the number Dylan made them memorize, and listens to it ring. 

“Atlas?” Dylan’s voice comes through, and Daniel breathes a shaky sigh of relief. Dylan’s safe. “Atlas, where the hell are you? What’s going on?” 

“Everything went wrong,” is all Daniel can manage to say. “There’s an ambulance coming, we’re,” he pauses, when he realizes that he doesn’t know where they are. 

“Is everyone okay?” Dylan asks urgently. Daniel can hear Dylan moving around, probably getting ready to come meet them. 

“Merritt’s doing CPR on Lula, Jack’s – he’s –” Daniel does a full turn around. _Where is Jack?_ He was right behind Daniel and Lula, he’d swam up behind them – the realization hits him like a ton of bricks. Daniel never actually Jack resurface, he’d just assumed he was okay. He drops Merritt’s phone without thinking about it, his mind blocking out Dylan’s shouts coming from the other end, and automatically moves to the edge of the dock where he’d come up with Lula. “I have to get Jack,” he says, and maybe Merritt heard him and maybe he didn’t, but Daniel’s already diving into the lake again. 

Just as he disappeared underwater, Lula coughs, nearly choking on the water coming up. Merritt lets out the air he didn’t realize he’d been holding. He knows she’s not necessarily in the clear, but the fact that she’s conscious again definitely makes him feel better. The sound of sirens gets louder and louder, and if Merritt squints he thinks he can see the flashing lights a bit down the road. He turns to tell Jack and Daniel, but realizes that neither of them are there anymore.

“Danny?” he asks, panic moving into his chest again. “Danny? Jack?” He doesn’t want to freak Lula out by yelling anymore so he stops. His eyes fall on his cell phone that Daniel’d dropped, dangerously close to the water’s edge. He picks it up, and notices it’s in the middle of a call. “Hello?” 

“ _Whatthefuckisgoingon_ ,” Dylan grits from the other side of the phone, where he’s pacing around the safehouse living room. It’s not a question, it’s a statement, and Merritt’s pretty sure if he doesn’t get an answer soon, Dylan might go ballistic on them, and no one wants that. 

“We’re at a lake, I—”

“Atlas said something about Lula and Jack,” Dylan cuts in. “What’s going on?” The ambulance finally pulls into the shore, a few paramedics jumping out of the vehicle and sprinting towards the dock. 

“We’re going to have to go to the hospital,” Merritt says. “Can you meet us there?” 

“What fucking hospital?!” Dylan nearly screams, panicked at the thought of any of his Horsemen being seriously injured. Any other time, Merritt would’ve rolled his eyes and told Dylan to figure it out himself, knowing there can’t be that many hospitals in the area and not letting Dylan yell at him without any consequences. _But this is different_ , he thinks, looking down at where the paramedics are helping Lula. He looks over to the ambulance on the shore. 

“Azurlean,” he informs Dylan. Dylan starts talking again, but Daniel resurfaces, holding Jack to him and paddling the both of them to the dock. Merritt wonders why Jack’s not putting any effort in at all when he realizes – he’s unconscious. He hangs up on a yelling Dylan and rushes over to the edge of the dock with a paramedic, and the two of them move to haul Jack up onto the dock. 

“Please move back, sir,” the paramedic requests of Merritt, and he obliges, moving back to help Daniel out of the water.

“I thought he was behind me, I don’t know what happened, I got Lula up here and then Dylan—”

“ _Danny_ ,” Merritt says, although he’ll never admit it, gently. Daniel has a habit of talking quickly when he was panicked, and Merritt knows if he lets Daniel keep going, Daniel’ll work himself into a panic attack. 

“—and I realized he’d never come up, and—”

“Danny,” Merritt says a little more forcefully. Daniel stops talking and looks up at Merritt. Maybe they should think about tracking him down a towel so he doesn’t get sick or something. “They’re going to be fine, okay? You need to calm down.” Daniel nods but continues to inhale and exhale at a rapid pace. “Breathe with me, okay?” Merritt tries, exaggerating his breaths so Daniel can follow with them. Once he seems to be calmed, Merritt waves over a paramedic who takes one look at Daniel and sets off to get a towel. 

“What’s going to happen?” Daniel asks Merritt. Merritt looks around, surveying the scene. Lula is being assisted to the shore to one of the ambulances, while two other paramedics are bent over Jack still. There seems to be a pool of blood and water by Jack’s side, and Merritt forces himself to look away.

“They’re putting Lula in an ambulance now,” Merritt tells him. “They’re still helping Jack.” The paramedic who’d gone to get Daniel a towel returns with one, draping it around his shoulders before crouching down.

“Do you mind if I look you over?” he asks Daniel, who shakes his head.

“Are they okay?” he asks, gesturing to the general direction of Lula and Jack.

“We’re going to transport them to the hospital,” the paramedic explains as he checks over Daniel. “Turn your head, please.” Daniel obliges. “We’re calling another ambulance down for your other friend, but she’s –” he nods at Lula’s ambulance “—heading out momentarily.” He stands up. “You just seem a bit shaken, but nothing wrong with you besides a few bruises. Did one of you want to ride with her?” 

“I will,” Daniel says, looking at Merritt for a split second. Merritt doesn’t contest the decision and Daniel gives him a quick nod before walking with the paramedic to the shore so he can get in the ambulance with Lula. He’s relieved to see she’s conscious and aware of her surroundings, if not a little disoriented. 

“Danny?” she asks, when he climbs in and sits on the bench. The paramedic who’d checked him out pulls the doors closed and speaks into his walkie talkie. The sirens start to sound and the ambulance begins moving.

“I’m here,” he reassures Lula. “How are you feeling?” She coughs and smiles weakly at him.

“Well, I’m still alive, aren’t I?” Daniel tries to smile back but just ends up nodding vehemently, almost as if to reassure himself more than to agree with her. “You’re not going to get rid of me that easily,” she adds gently, coughing a little bit again. Normally, Daniel would make some quip about how that was too bad and that he’d been trying ever since she broke into his apartment that one day. He can’t manage to find it in himself to make light of this situation. _They almost killed Lula_. She reaches out for him, and without a second thought, Daniel grasps her hand like it’s his lifeline.

Back at the lake, Merritt’s forced to stand to the side and watch as a paramedic performs CPR on him. It’s been a while. Merritt tries not to think about how long it might’ve been since Jack last breathed. Suddenly, he hears a weak cough and the paramedic starts waving over a stretcher. Merritt pushes his way through and moves to be at Jack’s side.

“Jack, buddy, can you hear me?” he asks, and Jack looks up at him through a haze of confusion.

“Mer? What’s… going on?” he manages, and Merritt half smiles at the nickname that he normally would’ve balked at. Before he can say anything, Jack’s eyes widen, almost comically in any other situation, and he tries to sit straight up.

“Whoa, take it easy,” the paramedic says, trying to gently push Jack back down into a lying position.

“Lula,” Jack says, as if he didn’t even hear the paramedic. “Merritt – Lula? And Danny?” He whips his head around, looking. Did Dr. Lillith take them somewhere else? Are they still in the water? _Did they make it up to the shore?_

“They’re already headed to the hospital,” Merritt reassures them. “You gotta listen to the paramedics, though. We don’t want you injuring yourself any more than you already are.” 

“Injured?” Jack asks, frowning, but letting the paramedic guide him back down. His hand subconsciously moves toward his knife wound and winces when he feels it. “Fuck,” he breathes out painfully. The stretcher reaches them, and the paramedics start loading Jack carefully onto the stretcher, trying not to bump him against anything. They move him towards the ambulance, and Merritt quickly retrieves his personal effects from around the dock before following them. 

“Can I ride with him?” he asks the paramedic, who nods and motions for him to climb in. Merritt sits on one of the two benches, and takes his hat off and sets it on his lap. The paramedic gets in right after him and starts to check out Jack, who seems suddenly less responsive than he was. He calls for backup. Another paramedic gets in and closes the doors before moving to assist the first paramedic. Merritt starts fiddling with the brim of the hat, trying not to ask what’s going on. The ambulance starts moving, and a second later, the sirens start blaring. Merritt jumps slightly, not expecting it to be that loud. 

“Can you talk to him? We’d like to keep him conscious, if possible,” one of the paramedics says to Merritt. 

“Yeah, okay,” Merritt agrees. He scooches forward on the bench to be closer to Jack so he doesn’t have to yell over the sirens.

“How are you feeling?” he asks. “Right, dumb question. Probably not so great.” Jack chuckles faintly, glad for the distraction from the paramedics poking around his wound. He tries to build up the strength to reply to Merritt, but it seems like a lot of work, and everything still feels a bit hazy. “Dylan’s worried, you know. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him sound that frantic.” 

“He’s slipping under,” one of the paramedics says, looking over at Merritt. “See if you can get him to respond?” Merritt nods, looking back down at Jack, who does, indeed, look a bit out of it and probably one step from falling asleep.

“What do you remember?” he asks, nudging Jack’s shoulder lightly, curious about what was going on when he was focused on Lula. 

“Someone… stabbed me,” Jack gets out, speaking taking a lot of energy out of him. “Couldn’t swim… back up… with Lula… Danny helped.” It’s a fragmented version of the story at best, but the most energy he can bear to expend right now. “I think… I’m going to… nap,” he adds before letting his eyes slip closed. Merritt nudges him again, but he doesn’t wake up this time. The paramedics set to work again, and Merritt leans back onto the cold wall of the side of the ambulance.

Dylan’s pacing. Again. He can’t help it, it’s been a while since Merritt abruptly hung up on him but receptionist says that none of the Horsemen’s names have been listed for any of the rooms. He’s tried calling Daniel and Merritt, but neither of them have picked up. He’s in the process of dialing Merritt’s number again when the doors open with another ambulance arrival. He turns, out of habit, and sees Daniel coming in behind them. They continue on, and Daniel drops into the chair closest to Dylan.

“What the _fuck_ ,” Dylan says. Daniel looks damp, or at the very least, his clothes look damp. “Did you stop for a swim? Where are the other two?” Daniel doesn’t answer, and Dylan wants to grab him by the shoulders and shake him, but he takes a closer look at Daniel and notices how panicked he looks. Concerned about all of his Horsemen, he takes a seat next to Daniel. “What’s going on?” he asks a little gentler, but still on edge.

“Jack and Merritt are coming, I think. They were behind us,” he offers. “Lula’s going to be fine, probably, they said.” 

“Okay,” Dylan nods, not wanting to trigger a panic attack in Daniel. “What happened at the show?” 

“Dr. Lillith knew what was going to happen, she’s Walter’s wife,” Daniel explains, seeming to calm down as he talks. 

“Walter?” Dylan asks, slightly confused.

“Walter Mabry, the guy who wanted the chip last time, remember?” 

“Tressler’s son,” Dylan recalls, and Daniel nods his affirmation.

“Right. So she was his grandson, and so she had already known what we were capable of. She had her own security there, and she somehow broke through Merritt’s trance, and in all the commotion she took us into a limo. She had everything planned meticulously, the idea was that if anyone did see us, they’d think we planned the whole thing, and the limo was just part of the image. She took us out to the lake, didn’t leave us alone for a second. We were going to try an escape and they saw right through us.” Daniel pauses momentarily, trying to sort through the order of everything happening. It seemed to have gone by in a blur. Dimly, he remembers the argument he and Merritt’d had back right before everything started. It seemed so trivial, looking back on it. 

As if planned, the paramedics with Jack come rushing through and towards the rooms behind the double doors, and Merritt comes in, rubbing his face with one hand and perching his hat back on his head with the other. He slumps into the chair. “You think I would’ve been over it after the first time Jack died,” he mirthlessly laughs. He rubs at his eyes again, tired. “How’s Lula?”

“She should be fine, probably,” Daniel repeats. 

“Daniel was filling me in on what happened,” Dylan cuts in, and Merritt gestures with his arm.

“By all means, continue,” he shrugs. 

“Where was I?” Daniel asks Dylan.

“You were at the lake,” Dylan reminds him. “Pretty sure you’d just gotten there.” 

“Okay, so. They fastened Lula’s wrists and ankles together and dropped her into the lake, to kill her,” Daniel continues on, ignoring the cold feeling he gets when he remembers how _intentional_ this all was. “They were going to claim she was trying to live up to Henley’s tricks. At that point, we were fighting the security and trying to get to her. Jack got stabbed, but he went right into the water for her anyways. He was down there for a while, so I dove in after him. He was struggling to carry her up, and she was unconscious so I took her the rest of the way up. Once on land, Merritt started performing CPR on her, and then I realized Jack’d never come up either. I went back and got him, and then got on the ambulance with Lula,” Daniel finishes. 

“They got Jack to regain consciousness, but he passed out again in the ambulance. They said it was from blood loss,” Merritt adds. The three of them fall into silence, not sure what to say to each other. Dylan’s eyes find the TV, where the news is now covering the story of what happened at the docks. 

“Turn it up,” he requests of the receptionist, who obliges without looking up. 

“… many witnesses, we have one here.” The anchor shoves a microphone into the face of a middle aged man who looks all too happy to be on a local news station. 

“The guys were brawling and she was still underwater. The trick had gone completely wrong,” the man says wide eyed. “Next thing you know, three of them are in the water, and only two of them come up at first. Then Atlas is diving in again to get Wilder.” The camera goes back to the reporter. “Other witnesses are saying Jack Wilder was stabbed in the side moments before jumping off of this dock, here.” The camera pans out to show a full view of the dock, which seems to have been cleaned. “We have some cell phone footage of the aftermath, although we do have to warn you, some of the images may be disturbing to some of our viewers.” The broadcast plays a clip filmed from one of the people who’d been gathered by the shore, showing Lula being wheeled away as Daniel follows, and Jack laying lifeless on the dock, the blood slowly pooling by his side. Daniel abruptly stands up, eyes darting around the room as if he suspects he’s going to be attacked, then mutters something about coffee before heading off to find the cafeteria. Merritt takes up fidgeting with the brim of his hat again to keep busy. 

A little over half an hour later, Daniel returns, looking considerably calmer. The three of them sit for another forty five minutes, watching doctors emerge from the doors and call names that weren’t Lula or Jack. Finally, a younger looking doctor pushes through the double doors and consults his clipboard. “Lula May?” 

“That’s us,” Dylan says, jumping to his feet almost instantaneously, itching for news. Merritt and Daniel look up expectantly from where they’re sitting.

“Ms. May’s doing well,” the doctor shares. “We’re looking at a minor case of hypervolemia which can be solved with diuretics. We’re going to keep her overnight just to keep an eye on her fluid balance, but she’s accepting visitors now.” Merritt and Daniel get up and start moving towards the doors, but Dylan hangs back and turns to the doctor. 

“Do you know anything about Jack Wilder?” he asks lowly. The doctor shakes his head, and moves to walk around him, but Dylan moves back into his path. “ _Please_ ,” he adds, and the doctor, Dr. Rian, according to his uniform, sighs. 

“I really can’t say anything,” he says apologetically. “But,” he hesitates, “you should really be expecting news within half an hour.” Dylan nods his thanks and the two of them set off down the hall. Daniel realizes that Dylan is not with them, and turns around to see them catching up. 

“Everything okay?” he asks Dylan quietly, and Dylan gives him a quick nod. The doctor steps to the side of a door, motioning them in. The three of them file in, and Lula looks up at the three of them, smiling slightly at them. 

“I’ll let Mr. Wilder’s doctor you’re in here,” Dr. Rian promises before leaving them alone.

“Hey guys,” Lula greets them once they’re gone. 

“How are you feeling?” Dylan asks, leaning against the door frame. “You doing okay?” 

“Been better, but I’m not dead, so I can’t _really_ complain,” Lula replies, before frowning. “Where’s Jack, is he okay?” Daniel and Merritt look at each other, neither one wanting to relive what happened by explaining it again. 

“Jack’s in another room, we should get an update soon,” Dylan speaks up. Lula nods, accepting the answer. The room falls into a tense silence, everyone now worrying about Jack. “He’s going to be okay,” Dylan adds, but he’s not sure if he’s saying it more for him or for them. He can’t deny that he’s worried about the state of his youngest Horseman, not just because of the functionality of his team, but because in the few years they’ve been working together, they’ve become somewhat of a… _family_. Besides Alma, the Horsemen are probably the people he’s closest to. 

“Of course,” Lula agreed with him quickly, and Dylan feels thankful for her never ending positivity. “So I’m stuck here for the night, but I was thinking maybe we could order food? I’m kind of hungry, and I could really go for some takeout, what do you guys think?” Merritt can’t help but crack a smile as he whips out his phone. 

“What do you want?” he asks, and Daniel and Dylan smile at each other, knowing that Merritt has a soft spot for helping out Lula and Jack. Probably because the other three have a few years on them, and view them as their little brother and sister. 

“Hamburger?” Lula asks hopefully, and Merritt nods, Googling the nearest takeout burger restaurant. 

“Do you guys want anything?” he asks Dylan and Daniel.

“Just go ahead and order for all of us,” Dylan decides. “We’re probably going to be here for a while.” Merritt nods and steps out of the room to call for delivery, leaving just the three of them. 

“You doing okay, Danny?” Lula asks him quietly, remembering how panicked he’s been for most of the day. Daniel nods, not really wanting to acknowledge it too much. Partially because he doesn’t want to work himself up again, but also partly because he doesn’t want the attention on him for it. But he also knows she’s asking because she’s genuinely concerned.

“You’re the one in the hospital bed,” he quips instead, but Lula smiles at him, and Daniel knows his unspoken gratitude is received. 

“Excuse me, you’re also here for Mr. Wilder?” a voice asks from the doorway, and they all turn to see another doctor standing there. Dylan nods, and the doctor steps further into the room. His stitched name tag reads ‘Dr. Fletcher’. Merritt comes in after him and scooches toward the wall so he can pay attention as well. 

“Is he going to be okay, Dr. Fletcher?” Lula asks him. 

“Nathaniel is fine,” Dr. Nathaniel Fletcher says, not looking up from his tablet. He must’ve gotten an upgrade over Dr. Rian. “Mr. Wilder’s going to make a full recovery. We stitched up his side, where he’d sustained a knife wound. He lost a lot of blood though, and so we gave him a blood transfusion.” He scrolls a bit before continuing on. “It looks like Mr. Wilder is going to have a case of pneumonia because of his near drowning incident, which is not an uncommon after effect, caused by inhalation of bacteria in freshwater bodies. He’s in recovery now, sleeping off some sedative, but you can come see him whenever.” Dr. Nathaniel Fletcher finally looks up from his tablet. “Except you,” he adds to Lula, smiling down at her. He holds the smile for a moment longer than friendly, and she smiles shyly back at him. “It seems you’re a bit confined at the moment.” 

“Probably shouldn’t get up,” Lula agrees, fingering the IV. Dr. Nathaniel Fletcher chuckles a bit and a blush quickly spreads across Lula’s face. 

“Do any of you have any questions?” Nathaniel addresses the rest of them. They’re all staring at him and Lula, watching the scene unfold. Merritt’s taken to trying to figure him out with his mentalism, Daniel’s got both of his eyebrows raised and Dylan has a small smirk on his face. Lula makes a cutting neck motion behind his back at the boys, but they all ignore her. 

“How long is he going to be held here?” Daniel asks, and Dr. Nathaniel Fletcher consults his tablet. 

“We’ll see how he’s feeling when he wakes up, but unless his pneumonia becomes more severe, he can probably go home in two or three days,” he replies. “He’s in room 317, if you take a right out of the room and then take your second left, it’ll be down that wing. Is there anything else I could get to make things easier for you?” he looks back over at Lula, who blushes again.

“I’m good for now,” she says to him. He smiles at her again.

“Okay, just let one of us know if you do,” Dr. Nathaniel Fletcher tells her. She gives him a small, awkward wave and then he nods at the rest of them before taking his leave. 

“What was that?” Merritt teases, raising his eyebrow. Lula blushes deeper, looking away from their eyes. 

“Nothing much,” she mumbles, then brightens. “You should go see Jack, though.” 

“Maybe in shifts,” Dylan suggests. “He’s asleep anyways, and there’s no reason just to leave you,” he adds to Lula, who beams back at him. 

“I’ll stay behind and wait for the food,” Merritt volunteers, plopping into a chair. “And hang out with Lula, I guess.” 

“There you go, _afterthought_ ,” Dylan jokes to Lula. “Let’s go?” Daniel nods, and they start walking to Jack’s room. “Third right?” 

“Second,” Daniel corrects, pointing to the wing. They turn down it and scan the numbers on either side of the hall until they reach 317, on the left side. The door is closed, and he lightly knocks. Unsurprisingly, no one answers, and after a few moments he just pushes the door open. Jack is knocked out, but already they can see how pale and tired he looks. 

“ _Fuck_ ,” Dylan says, and Daniel can only nod, at a loss for words. They stand in the doorway, hesitant to come in any further in case they disrupt him. They don’t have to worry about it for very long because Jack shifts slightly, then blinks hazily.

“Dylan? Danny?” he asks groggily, and they move to sit in the plastic chairs against the wall, in the same spot as Lula’s room. Dylan closes the door behind them before settling in the chair. 

“How are you feeling?” he asks Jack, who is rubbing his eyes while also wincing at the pain the small movement jolts in his side. 

“Shitty,” he coughs, still wincing. Dylan chuckles a bit.

“Yeah, figures,” he says. “You’ve got pneumonia. It’s gonna suck for a few days.” Jack tips his head back and groans, but that only results in him coughing more. “Let me go see if I can track you down some water,” he says, leaving the room to track down a doctor.

“Where’re Lula and Merritt?” Jack asks, noting their lack of presence. 

“In Lula’s room, she’s being held overnight. Nothing serious,” Dylan adds quickly, noticing the look of worry crossing Jack’s face. “Just –” he tries to remember what the doctor said but the only thing he can come up with is hypothermia, which he knows can’t be right. “I can’t remember exactly what it is, but it’s just a precaution.” 

“How long do I have to stay?” is his next question.

“A few days. You really did a number on yourself,” Daniel replies, grinning uneasily at him. He wants to keep things light, without making it seem like a big deal, because stress is the last thing either one of them needs. At the same time, it’s hard to just casually skate so easily over the events that transpired. Jack nods but doesn’t say anything for a few moments. His eyes start to slip closed, and Daniel wonders if he’s going to go back to sleep. 

“You came back in for me,” Jack speaks up, startling Daniel, who wasn’t expecting him to say anything else. He can’t tell if Jack’s asking a question or making a statement, but the lilt in his voice makes Daniel think there’s an underlying question. He looks back up at Jack, who’s peering back at him with quizzical eyes.

“Yeah, I…” he breaks off, trying to think of how to explain. “I did,” he finishes lamely. He doesn’t miss the brief look of disappointment that flits over Jack’s face before the latter quickly covers it up with a mask of indifference. Truth is, Jack was hoping Daniel would’ve said something that made him feel like Daniel saving him was more because Daniel might’ve cared about him as a person, not just because it was his duty to mankind or something. “Look, I –” Daniel starts again but is interrupted by Dylan reappearing with a small paper cup of water, which he hands to Jack. Jack mumbles his thanks before sipping on the cool water, making the burning feeling from coughing in his throat feel a bit better.

“Are you feeling hungry?” Dylan asks him. Jack shrugs noncommittally, but doesn’t offer any clarification. Dylan takes this to mean he could eat. “Merritt’s ordered food, he’s gone to collect it. We ordered some for you, too.” 

As if on cue, Merritt knocks lightly on the door before stepping in. “Does someone else want to go sit with Lula?” Daniel thinks about going, maybe to at least take the time to decide what he wants to say to Jack without sounding like an idiot. Before he can volunteer, Dylan’s already standing up. Merritt hands him a greasy paper bag, and Dylan nods his thanks and leaves. Merritt distributes the rest of the meals to the other people in the room. 

“How are you doing?” Merritt asks Jack before shoving his burger into his mouth. Jack chuckles at his terrible manners before having a coughing fit that prevents him from answering Merritt for a few moments. Daniel accepts a bag of food from Merritt in the meantime, pulling out the carton of limp fries. 

“I’ve been better,” Jack finally responds, unwrapping his own food. “Thanks for dinner.” 

“No problem,” Merritt barely responds before taking another huge bite. 

“Are you even chewing, or just swallowing it?” Jack quips, smiling at Merritt. Merritt raises and eyebrow, and unceremoniously stuffs the rest of his burger down his throat as his answer. Daniel shakes his head at him, gingerly nibbling on a few of the fries. They’re not half bad, but they would probably be a lot better if they had some sort of structure to them. 

“How’s that knife wound?” Merritt asks Jack once he’s swallowed. Jack makes a face and Merritt laughs at it. The two guys have a dynamic that’s mostly made up of jokes and teasing, an incredibly lighthearted kind of thing, and Daniel wishes he could talk with the other team members like that. He can’t help that he’s higher strung, and so he’s less apt to crack jokes when there are more serious ways of getting surefire information. 

This is probably what causes the biggest strain between Daniel and Jack: while Merritt is more likely to dole out sarcasm, Jack just enjoys joking around without letting things get very serious. This has led to Daniel calling him a child on multiple occasions, just because he knows that pushing that particular button with Jack will always get him to sulk, which means he’s quiet and Daniel can get to the point. Of course Daniel knows he’s not a kid anymore. He’s nearly 20 now, which is about the age Daniel was when he started doing his own shows. If anything, Jack’s more of an adult than he was at that age, Daniel thinks, because would he have gone in after Henley if she was drowning? 

No. Probably not. Even though they were in love at the time, Daniel would never have had the balls to risk his own life to save hers. 

“What you did was really… admirable,” he blurts into the room, and Jack and Merritt halt their conversation to look at him. Merritt simply raises an eyebrow, looking between the two of them.

“I get the feeling you two need to talk,” he says slowly, dropping the fry he’s holding into his mouth before closing the back and standing up. He dusts fry salt off of his pants. “Try not to kill each other, yeah?” He grins at both of them, tipping his hat, before leaving and closing the door behind him. Both Jack and Daniel stare at each other for a few moments.

“I admit I’ve been hard on you,” Daniel finally continues. “All the time. It’s not fair of me, just because you’re the youngest of all of us, you’re clearly just as capable.” Jack cracks a small, unsure smile. Is Daniel just saying this because he feels guilty? “I’m going to try to be better about it, but I just… I was thinking about it, and I never would’ve just, I don’t know, dove in to save anyone without some push, but you, you just, you went for it.” He’s avoiding Jack’s eyes now, and Jack looks down at his own lap, trying not to make it awkward.

“It wasn’t bravery or anything,” Jack says. “It was probably stupid, I mean I’d just been stabbed, but I don’t think I even noticed.” He lets his hand drop to his side, running his fingertips over the thin stitches in his side. He doesn’t know why he’s opening up to Daniel about this, since he’s not sure the last time they bonded over anything. Maybe back when they first met, when he’d told Daniel he was his biggest fan. It doesn’t even count as bonding, but it’s definitely the last time they talked about themselves to each other. “I just knew I couldn’t stand by and watch Lula die. We’re like… we’re like a _family_ now,” he says quietly, looking back over at Daniel to gauge his reaction.

Before today, Daniel might’ve merely nodded along without outright agreeing, because he always just held everyone at an arm’s distance, keeping their relationships nothing but professional. But he realizes that today has changed everything. He was scared to lose Lula and Jack, and he knows if he had been in either of their positions, his team members would be there to get him without sparing a second thought. Daniel knows now that he would do the same for them. 

“Yeah,” Daniel says, smiling at Jack. “We are.”


End file.
